Tea Party Patriots apologizes to Karl Rove for Nazi photo

The leader of the Tea Party Patriots organization issued an apology Tuesday to Karl Rove after the group sent a fundraising email with a doctored photo showing the Republican strategist in a Nazi uniform.

“We apologize to Mr. Rove,” Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder of the group, said in a statement. “While we may have strong disagreements with him on the future of conservatism, we want to be clear this imagery is absolutely unacceptable and are working to ensure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again.”

Martin said the group “did not know about or approve” of the image before it was sent.

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“In an email sent under the banner of Tea Party Patriots, a manufactured image of Karl Rove was added to the email which Tea Party Patriots did not know about or approve,” she said. “The image, which was added by an outside vendor, Active Engagement, was inappropriate, wrong and we have ordered them to immediately cease further use of the image.”

The Tuesday fundraising solicitation was titled, “Wipe the Smirk Off Karl Rove’s Face.”

“Karl Rove believes he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars, crush the Tea Party movement and protect the big-government status quo in Washington from millions of freedom loving Americans,” the letter read.

Conservative organizations like Tea Party Patriots have clashed with Rove ever since the super PAC he’s associated with, American Crossroads, launched the Conservative Victory Project to assist what the group determines to be “electable” candidates in GOP primaries. Many conservatives take that to mean they will meddle in races in order to prevent the most conservative candidates from winning primaries.

In a statement provided to The Daily Caller on Tuesday afternoon, Rove said, “Apology accepted. Now let’s all get back to work building conservative Republican majorities and stop President Obama’s agenda.”